Heartbreaking news...a big reminder to be aware of wildlife on property

[dolphindan1]

An eye sore would be worth one child's life. If that's what is deemed necessary to prevent this from happening again, I think every parent would be for it.

staying out of the water would have prevented it too....

 

[nugov2]

So sad! I can't evem imagine. I will say around here no swimming means that, but not necessarily not wading and could see where confusion comes in as they are different. I would never in a million years let my kids near that water because I have an extreme fear of gators and sharks and am a freak about that stuff and I have heard the Disney water has dangerous bacteria too. I thought, but could be wrong that you used to be able to swim in that water and even had an Iron Man where you swam in the water (though not sure if it was that specific lagoon), so I can see where the no swimming was viewed as more of because no life guard on duty type of situation. It certainly would be wise to have a simple sign of beware of wildlife in the water to distinguish. Obviously there are lots of people who have different views of what no swimming means and the reasons of why that sign is there.

I hope for the families sake they recover the child.

 

[atp]

This is ridiculous. Disney is SO careless with their guests' safety sometimes, it's insane. And for what? Maintaining the image of the most "magical" place in the world? A perfect world where nothing bad every happens? They try so hard to convince their guests of those things and at the same time you are supposed to be extra vigilant about all kinds of dangers that you are not familiar with because they of course never mention anything negative and try to hide and dismiss every single negative event that happens there, leading you to think it's so safe and nothing bad ever happens.

I'm well aware there are alligators in Florida, amoeba in the water, etc. But that is only because I was pretty much obsessed with Disney and the US growing up and read a lot about it. Living in South America and now in Europe, I would never imagine that was a danger had I not read about it due to my habit of researching everything. I'm a very paranoid person and extra cautious, but I can only anticipate situations that I have heard before. Up until now, I had not idea alligator could attack even if you were outside of the water. I also had no idea there were so many alligators at Disney or that Disney was aware of that until many pages into the thread.

The vast majority of people DO NOT research every last detail about their lives. They barely plan their vacations or check the weather before they go! It may seem like common sense because we are in a forum full of Disney fanatics who book everything a million days in advance and schedule every single vacation day, sometimes coming to the extreme of scheduling even bathroom breaks.

However, even know I know all of that, I had absolutely no idea that the reason for the "NO SWIMMING" signs was also alligators. A lot of things at Disney are artificial, those beaches are artificial, they have all kinds of activities right by the water, they encourage you to walk on the sand, to stay at those beaches at night by having events and chairs there and just making them generally accessible via walkways, but they do not tell you that it is in fact dangerous to even walk next to the "shore". That is something I would have liked to know and I'm sure the family of that precious baby would have appreciated knowing as well!

You could actually be attacked by an alligator just by walking close to the shore, and that is something that the signs DO NOT tell you and something I would not have know had I not read every single reply on this thread. How can Disney take this risk and not post clear signs warning people of the danger, not only with words but also pictures? There are people from all over the world who often do NOT speak English.

Sure it may be rare for an incident to happen, but it clearly is not rare for alligators to be around, so why take any chances?

It is unbelievable that Disney chooses to take not only the risk of being sued, but the risk of having a guest be injured or killed, by choosing to have a vague sign that can be interpreted in different ways depending on where you are from! And if we take it to mean what it literally says, it just means to not immerse yourself fully in the water by swimming. It does not tell you to not walk or stand close to the edge, to not splash the water, to not go there at night, to look out for the alligators who obviously live there.

Yes, people ignore even clear signs about danger, but a lot of people do not. I do not. I follow directions and add a huge margin of error to them, and still it would not have occurred to me to not walk close to the shore. It made me now want to do any activities that Disney offers in the water because I didn't want any water splashed on me as I thought the danger was bacteria/amoebas, but that's about it!

Had I known alligators were so common at WDW I would NEVER have walked near the shore and NEVER EVER have gone to those beaches at night, which I have done multiple times! I think it is ridiculous that Disney does not inform their guests of a potentially fatal danger.

One may think it is common sense to do what one has been taught to do their whole lives being familiar with this type of danger, but that is only common sense to YOU. Everyone else who had a completely different upbringing in a completely different area will have different concerns and will have a different common sense. I still can't believe Disney chooses to take this risk knowing the huge amount of alligators around. The "beaches" look nice and all, but you don't need to allow people to walk on them if it's not safe or you need to warn them of the dangers. It's negligent not to.

This just blows my mind. Disney has disappointed me a lot in the past few years, but this just takes the cake. That poor family. I'm still hoping for a miracle.

 

[lugnut33]

Terrible tragedy. Horrendous.

While I knew there were gators all over the place at WDW, I didn't think any of them got large enough to take a kid (then again a 2 year old is pretty small). Here's a little factoid sheet on living with alligators from the state of South Carolina: http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/files/State Parks/Wildlife Page/WW_alligators.pdf

If you read through it you'll see many precautionary items that will stick out to you now that you know this has happened. Honestly, without reading that sheet I would have known very little of the common sense precautions to take and I've been to Florida a bazillion times.

 

[quagmire0]

Having just come back from our vacation yesterday, this hit way too close to home. I just have to say this to all the people criticizing the parents: back off! Seriously, the 'No Swimming' signs have nothing to do with this issue. By all accounts, the kid was just walking along the water - like any kids (including my own) would be prone to do on a beach. The attack was sudden and once an alligator has you, there's not much that can be done unless someone trained is there to stop it. Even if the kid was ankle deep in the water, no sane parent would ever expect an alligator attack in a controlled body of water at the heart of Disney property. Had there been signs warning people of potential wildlife attacks, then that would be another issue. What happened to this poor kid and his family could have very easily happened to mine. I see no room to judge, whatsoever. On the flipside, for a company that seems so 'on top of it' in so many other ways when it comes to their properties, I'm very surprised that Disney doesn't seem more aggressive in patrolling their own lagoon for threats like these. The fact that they don't have any signage would make me believe that they are constantly patrolling/scanning the waters and that there is no threat for parents and other guests to be wary of. Yes, people from Florida can say 'it happens all the time here' until they are blue in the face, but we're talking about millions of people that come through Orlando from all corners of the globe. They have no idea what's 'normal' in Florida as much as Floridians have no idea what's 'normal' in other states and countries. This is very much a 'black and white' tragedy. I don't find fault in the parents. It's the last thing you would ever expect to happen when you innocently let your child get their feet wet on a Disney-controlled beach on a private lake. Had this been a shark attack on a public beach, I may feel differently.

 

[yulilin3]

Signs might help only a few, from experience of people not following the rules/signs:
No flash photography
Don't go up on stage, seen people storm (about 20 of them) the MK castle stage to get pictures
No climbing, seen kids climbing and falling down
CM telling kids not to sit on the chains, I've seen many kids fall and bump their heads
Don't feed the wildlife , I've seen people feeding ducks, birds, turtles, alligators...
The events of this week in Orlando will have an effect on the Disney Bubble. Is that a good or bad thing? I don't know.

 

[kittyab]

We were at that resort last fall for 2 weeks. There are several signs posted about not going in the water, don't swim in the water, etc. I think the problem is CM's don't want to upset guests when they see them breaking the rules.

 

[Nancyg56]

This reminded me of a review I read recently on Tripadvisor when considering Coronado springs. Person listed this under the "cons" of the resort:
"- There is an alligator in the middle lake, and the staff was watching people feeding it in the mornings. This is against Florida Law."
They also posted a picture:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUse..._Coronado_Springs_Resort-Orlando_Florida.html

Now I don't know how true that is, and its not GF, but still it was the first thing I thought of when I heard this story and didn't know what resort it was yet.

There is a gator living in teh lake at CSR.

I haven't read all the posts in here, and from the last few responses I don't think I want to. This is a tragedy and you can't really lay blame at the feet of the parents. Anyone who is should be ashamed of themselves.

All I have to add (and maybe this has been mentioned) is that we saw gators in the water in the MK on our last two trips. Not around MK, IN MK, in the river that surrounds Tom Sawyer's Island. They were both small, but were definitely there. It was shocking to me that they weren't trapped and relocated immediately. Allowing even a small gator to live amongst tourists and so many small kids seemed irresponsible to me, but no one working at the MK seemed to care at all.

Trap all the alligators? And do what with them? I understand emotions ae high, but really, you cannot live in a swamp populated by all kinds of wildlife, and capture anything that you percieve presents a threat.
I live in a small CT town, and we have a little pond in a town park. There is signage that warns about swimming, etc, but honestly our caretaker there says there is not a sign large enough to detail everything people ignore when there is a warning sign. People seem to need specific rules, and if it is not written down......it is not to be followed.

 

[LENNON500]

I hope that this is not the case.

G U A R A N T E E D.... and it will happen almost immediately......let the lawsuits begin.....

This is beyond tragic :-(

 

[BigAlsGal]

This sign from the Grand Cypress is exactly what they need.

Lol! Yet there are canoes next to the sign. Uhhhhhhh.....no thanks.

 

[lizzytizzy]

An update this AM: http://www.chipandco.com/update-child-taken-alligator-disneys-grand-floridan-resort-242305/

Apparently the father and son were wading in a foot of water when it happened

 

[babesboo99]

They had warning signs up No trespassing no swimming. Now if it was me I sure would not be near that body of water if those signs were up. We always stay on property and when we stayed at the BCV my family remembers talking to a worker saying there are gators in these waters so you have to be cautious and aware of your surroundings depending on where you are. If those signs were up then why would you go near the water

 

[dolphindan1]

So many smug posts. Such a lack of empathy. So completely gross.

Specific words mean specific things. No swimming means no swimming. No wading means no wading. No entering the water means no entering the water.

In NYC (where I'm from) there are a million rules about parking. There are signs on every corner letting you know what specifically you cannot do with your car.

"No Parking" signs mean you can't park your car. (As in, put the car in park, turn it off, take out the keys and leave.)
"No Standing" means you can't sit in your car waiting for someone (like if you're picking up a friend and waiting outside their place), even with the car running and the driver present.
"No Stopping" means you can't stop even for a handful seconds to let someone out of your car.

You CAN, however, stop in a "No Standing" zone. and you CAN stand in a "no parking" zone.

If the rule is "don't enter the water because even standing for a few moments ankle-deep while fully dressed (something NO ONE would ever call swimming) is dangerous," then the sign needs to reflect that. "DO NOT ENTER THE WATER" would do nicely. "NO SWIMMING, WADING OR ENTERING THE WATER IN ANY WAY" works too. Or how about ""PLEASE KEEP BACK TWO FEET FROM THE WATER'S EDGE."

Because this child wasn't swimming when he was taken.

I bet their is someone that breaks everyone one of those rules on the signs...the child was technically swimming in foot deep water....he wasn't doing a breast stroke across bay lake but he was technically swimming....so these parents were negligent....the world lost its collective minds when the kid got by the parents and fell in a gorilla pen...truthfully this is no different

 

[Mrs Eeyore]

I agree that the signage should and probably will be made more specific. I'm from Canada and it didn't occur to me that there were gators in the lakes. However, when I saw the "no swimming" signs at CBR, my thought process went something like this: "I wonder why we can't swim. There must be some kind of danger in the water and, since I don't know what it is, I will stay away from the water." I, and probably Disney, would have expected that kind of thinking to be universal, but obviously literal interpretation of the signs can result in tragedy. What Pete said.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

There is a gator living in teh lake at CSR.



Trap all the alligators? And do what with them? I understand emotions ae high, but really, you cannot live in a swamp populated by all kinds of wildlife, and capture anything that you percieve presents a threat.
I live in a small CT town, and we have a little pond in a town park. There is signage that warns about swimming, etc, but honestly our caretaker there says there is not a sign large enough to detail everything people ignore when there is a warning sign. People seem to need specific rules, and if it is not written down......it is not to be followed.

Excuse me, where did I say trap ALL the alligators? If you're going to attack me, at least be accurate. I'm sorry, but I think it's irresponsible to allow a gator to LIVE IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM. Not all gators everywhere. Give me a break.

 

[dolphindan1]

Right, especially since the boy WASNT IN THE WATER AT ALL from every report I've seen

most reports I have read says he was a foot deep in the water

 

[Jetta8300]

staying out of the water would have prevented it too....

Being IN it and wading are two different things. They said the toddler was wading in their feet. They have it set up like a beach for goodness sakes. I'm always sick of people on these boards who expect everyone to be a Disney expert and comb these boards. 99% of Disney travelers aren't like that. You'd think by looking at a picture at you could put your feet in. I was talking with my mom and sister about this (who have never been) and they were shocked Disney didn't remove all alligators. Or allowed children to get right into areas where they are able to snatch you. Do they deserve to have their children eaten? No.

 

[Jetta8300]

most reports I have read says he was a foot deep in the water

They correct this and said they had their "feet in" like wading. Not a foot deep

 

[A Mickeyfan]

When I was a student at the University of Florida, there were gators who wandered into the various pools on campus. I remember there was a gator in one of the dorm pools. I grew up in Chicago and lived there until I was college aged. Even with no experience with gators in the past I had enough common sense not to get into a pool with a gator, even though there was not a no swimming sign next to the dorm pool. The dorm was on the end of campus away from Lake Alice, near one of the busiest intersections in Gainesville. So, obviously, the gator must have walked quite a distance to get to the dorm pool.

I was reading that the Florida fish and wildlife agency is trapping the alligators, and so far three have been euthanized, and so far, they haven't found the child. I presume the animals are being euthanized to be checked for human remains, since, if they weren't looking for the child, the animals could be relocated to a safer area. This situation is tragic on so many levels, and as was the case with the child who went into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati zoo, the animals are the ones who are paying the price.

I do a lot of nature related activities. One of my favorite places to visit is Ding Darling on Sanibel and another is Corkscrew Swamp. I have had semi-dangerous close encounters and near misses. Once while hiking a trail in one of the Audubon areas, a cottonmouth crossed our path. I have a great picture of a cottonmouth in attack posture showing the inside of his mouth. Fortunately, it was taken from 10 ft away. When we are doing nature observations, we need to remember that we are invading the animals' habitat.

I believe there is a sign at the edge of the artificial beach at GF not to go into the water. According to news reports, the father and child were wading in the water. I remember that on one guided tour I went on several years ago, a movie was being made in the water in the reserve we were visiting. Before filming the movie, the alligators supposedly been removed. While filming the scene in the water, sure enough, the actor involved encountered an alligator. It would be very difficult for Disney to ensure that there were no alligators or any other wildlife on the grounds, if not impossible.

Are you down by me in Lee County? My daughter works at FGCU's Campus and last year se was in a meeting, she took pictures of a gator in the University swimming pool there. A trapper was getting it out. They are all over

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Also, about the signage...Disney sees a high proportion of foreign visitors who aren't native English speakers (or English speakers at all). Considering that even a bunch of (presumably) native English speakers are now debating whether "No Swimming" means literally "no swimming" or "stay out of the water completely" I do think Disney's signs are inadequate. I like the example posted above with a picture of a gator, as that will be readily understood by most people regardless of their English proficiency.